Hey all.
Been horse tradin and got myself a bunch of parts buildin up to put together a blown v8 trike.
Got a 8.8 inch rear with a posi and a 3.55 gearing. with my tires its gonna be around 70 inches wide. To wide? Good? bad? Is it much to have the housing narrowed and the axles shortened up a bit? Think its a good width? Dont wanna have myrear tires slammin oncoming cars. lol

I have built several trikes over the years. All of them Harley powered though. But some things I've learned will transfer over to V-8 power. 1. the wider the better on the back, to a point. You want the stable wide platform in turns, And if you put big sticky tires on the back then if it is too narrow then it will have a tendency to lift the inside tire in turns or turn over. For that reason you want most of the weight on the back. And that brings up problem #2 You can't run a locking rear or even a limited slip in the back because of the lack of weight compared to a car it won't release like it should in turns. So to turn it well you will have to lift the inside tire every time. Fun at first but gets real old quick. The other reason for running a open rear is on heavy launches (And who wouldn't launch it hard) it will raise the front end in the air. When that happens and say one tire bites harder than the other the bike will swap ends so fast it will turn you inside out. So you have to balance it out. I will post a pict of a trike I built for my wife and it is 45" axle flange to axle flange. I would call that the narrowest I would build with big tires. But you could goto 52" without too much trouble. #3 The front end. You must remove the trail from the front forks. (If you extend the centerline of the steering pivot down towards the axle the line has to go through the center of the axle. Normal motorcycle front ends the axle will be slightly forward of the centerline. That is called trail and is essential for a motorcycle. But you don't want it on a trike because you don't lean a trike over to turn.) If You leave the trail in the front it will be very difficult to turn. It will take huge effort to turn the bars But take the trail out and you can turn it with two fingers. In the trike world this is most times done with the tripple trees by putting the centerlines of all the tubes and the center pivot on the same plane side to side. And one more thing on the front end with a V-8 you will have to have the strongest front end on it you can get. That will mean something with large tubes 46mm or larger. or a girder type springer front end. Notice that I didn't mention anything about rake ( the angle of the front end) or about length of the front end. That is because a trike really isn't affected by them within reason. Just trail. If You follow these guidelines you will have something that will handle well be wild looking if you want that, and a blast to ride. I hope this helps Bill

Couple of other things. If You build your own frame with that much engine use a double backbone and use DOM .095 wall or greater tubing. At least 1 1/4" dia. But with that much engine I would go with 1 1/2" tubing And TIG weld it. Don't scrimp on the tubing. Or the welding. If I wasn't already a certified welder I would take it to a shop that builds certified roll cages to get it welded up. Your Life and maybe that of others depends on how well the front end is welded. I would also use motor plates front and rear to mount the engine as that would help stiffen the chassis. And You will need that. And if You go with a blown engine You will really need some wheelie bars. And really really good brakes. LOL Thanks Bill

Hey man i really appreciate all the help!
So yer sayin you shouldnt run a posi or limited slip? Would that make just one tire turn on like burnouts? Ive always thought that was a plus for quick machines...lol by open diff you talkin no posi or limited slip?? With a decent motor would you be able to hook up good or would one tire just grab?

the frame is gonna be built by a friend who builds dirt track n sprint cars so no worries there.

I found a guy who builds aftermarket leading link front ends designed for v8 trikes so im covered there as well. Gotta get the trail thing more figured out. Can you have a long front end but still have no trail???

Once again...thanks a lot for any help. HG

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Ya you can have the front end as long as you want within reason strength wise, it has to be able to hold the front up in the air. And be able to absorb the impact when it comes back down from a wheelie. All you have to do is take the trail out. As for the posi. You can look at it this way The roads we drive on are not perfect. You pull up to a stop light and on the right side of the lane you are in there is a little sand. You see it but think I have a posi so it will be ok. Some buddys pull up alongside and say smoke em. You want to show them just what this fire breathing monster can do. When you punch it the front end comes up even with only one tire hooking up cuz the other one is spinning in sand. When the front end comes up you have nothing trying to keep you going straight. But to make this even more fun now all your forward thrust is on one side. It is just like a steering brake on a dozer you are going to turn real fast to the right. Like in a half of a heartbeat. Way faster than you can react too by the way. We see this happen at the drag strip all the time. And that is with cars that have more mass up front to try and turn than a trike will have. So it's kind of better to light up just one tire as to be spinning like a top. You can get around this by putting the widest sticky tire you can find on the back. And you won't be entering your blown trike in any pro drift competitions anyway. As trikes really really don't like to get sideways. (tend to put the rubber side up when you back off of them) Unless it's wet pavement then you can have some fun. From your parts list and the way you plan on going about this you should end up with a killer trike when done. I am looking forward to picts as you build.

I know that a lot of folks would say that this isn't Hot rodding. I disagree A hot rodder can be a boat guy or motorcycles or even trikes. As long as it's fun and involves high performance. So I for one want to see pict's Thanks Bill

I know that a lot of folks would say that this isn't Hot rodding. I disagree A hot rodder can be a boat guy or motorcycles or even trikes. As long as it's fun and involves high performance. So I for one want to see pict's Thanks Bill

Agreed! I don't have a trike (02 Yamaha V-Max, a hot rod in the bike world) but I just learned a ton from your post. Hot rodding on this site involves anything with an engine and a motor and I like it like that. Thanks for all the info. Hemmie, get busy, I am dying to see this project going.

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